By Clint Wolf - September 21st 2023

 

BELOIT

The Lincoln Academy has more room for scholars to move about in and expand their minds as the charter school in Beloit recently completed a two-story addition.

The new addition to the east side of the school at 608 Henry Ave., provides a new space for a cafeteria and kitchen as well as learning lab spaces, office space and more, said Kristi Cole, chief education officer at the Lincoln Academy.

“It was a challenge to use our gym as a cafeteria. Now that we have the cafeteria and kitchen on the second floor, it frees up the gym for other uses,” Cole said.

Other spaces for learning labs and office spaces were part of the expansion as well. A multi-purpose room was added in the expansion, which is used for indoor recess and adaptive physical education. An advanced manufacturing lab is on the second floor of the addition, which offers instruction in robotics and use of CNC machines. And the lower level has a design lab where students learn architectural design, fashion design, stained glass, sculpture and more.

The Lincoln Academy also was able to build out some shell space that had not been utilized until this year. This allowed the school to expand space for students with special needs. Cole said 14% of the Lincoln Academy enrollment is made up of special needs students.

The school also was able to expand its medical services lab, which is equipped with an ambulance built into the classroom area. Also an e-sports lab was added. Cole noted the Lincoln Academy has its own e-sports team which started competing against other schools in video gaming last spring.

On the third floor, a new area was built out for the new NJ-ROTC program, which is the only Navy Junior ROTC program in a Wisconsin middle or high school. The program is for student in eighth grade and higher.

Lt. Commander John Spiritosanto, Navy Reserve retired, is the instructor for the program.

He said there are 16 cadets enrolled in the program at the Lincoln Academy.

“It is a career development program, not a recruiting pipeline for the military,” Spiritosanto said.

He said upcoming activities for the cadets include attending a drone competition in Wheeling, Illinois, and attending a drill competition. Spiritosanto said the cadets only will be attending the competitions as observers and they cannot compete yet as the ROTC program has only just begun.

The addition was designed by the same architect firm that designed the main Lincoln Academy building — Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA). The main construction contractor was Corporate Contractors Inc. (CCI) based in Beloit.

The Lincoln Academy opened in August of 2021. The school currently has an enrollment of about 625 students in grades K4 to 4 and grades 6 to 11. Next year, the school plans to add grades 5 and 12, which is expected to increase enrollment to about 730 students. Cole said the school has a waiting list of about 200 students each school year.

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